Calculation of natural frequencies and vibration modes of variable thickness cylindrical shells using the Wittrick-Williams algorithm

Exact stiffness analysis based on the Wittrick-Williams algorithm requires a solution to the governing member equations, and so has rarely been attempted for non-uniform members. Recent collaboration with Tsinghua University, China, has produced an efficient computational procedure for vibration analysis of non-uniform beams. This paper, resulting from the first author's PhD research, applies a similar approach to the analysis of non-uniform cylindrical shells